Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thoracic diagnosis assistance system.
Description of Related Art
Instead of stationary image capturing and diagnosis by thoracic radiation using a conventional film/screen or photostimulable phosphor plate, there is an approach to capture a thoracic dynamic state image using a semiconductor image sensor such as an FPD (flat panel detector), etc., to be applied to diagnosis. Specifically, fast responsiveness of reading and deleting of image data of the semiconductor image sensor is used and pulsed radiation is successively irradiated from a radiation source to match with the timing of reading and deleting by the semiconductor image sensor to perform capturing a plurality of times in one second. With this, a thoracic dynamic state is captured. A string of plurality of frame images obtained by capturing are sequentially displayed and it is possible for a physician to observe a string of movement of a chest portion according to breath movement, heartbeat, etc.
Various techniques are proposed to analyze ventilation and blood flow of lungs based on a thoracic dynamic state image.
For example, there is proposed a technique of judging whether ventilation capacity of the lungs is normal or abnormal for each region of an image capturing the thoracic dynamic state, and displaying on a display unit information regarding a position and name of an anatomical structure judged to be abnormal (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-153677).
For example, there is proposed a technique of calculating a pixel value in a predetermined range for each frame image composing the thoracic dynamic state image, and generating a temporal change amount of the calculated pixel value as information of pulmonary blood flow (For example, see pamphlet of WO 2007/078012).
However, a shape of a lung field or a stream of a blood vessel in a lung field in the thoracic dynamic state image is different for each individual or depending on the state when the dynamic state image is captured. Therefore, for example, there is a problem that it is not easy to use the thoracic dynamic state image as is for diagnosis by a physician, comparison analysis with image of other individuals, comparison analysis with past images of a same patient, blood flow analysis specifying a position of a blood vessel, etc.